Aliens in your bedroom?

A startling new book on UFOs and their ‘evolution connection’ looks
set to open many eyes …

That is how I responded, too, as I slouched in my seat, waiting to hear [CMI’s]
Gary Bates speak on aliens. Little green men. Yeah,
right.

Just a few of the genuinely unexplained UFO sightings.
1. Newspaper report from 1952.
2. The ‘McMinnville’ photograph from 1957.
3. The ‘New Mexico’ photo.
4. Lights over Washington D.C.
5. The ‘Lubbock Lights’.
Photos 4 and 5 show what appeared to be craft flying in formation.

I had a lot to learn. Since hearing UFO researcher Gary Bates—and devouring
his just-released book Alien Intrusion:
UFOs and the Evolution Connection—I will never again watch science
reports about Mars, read science fiction, or watch space films with the same eyes.

When I first heard about Gary’s UFO research, I wondered, ‘What do sci-fi
and aliens have to do with creation/evolution and the authority of God’s Word?’
As I discovered, there is an undeniable connection.

Not just cranks and hoaxers

What are UFOs? Many people are dismissive or have already made up their minds on
the subject without looking deeper. You may have heard all sorts of different explanations,
but Gary’s book provides eye-opening research that forces the reader to rethink
his assumptions—a bit like evolution.

‘UFOlogy’ is not just fun and games, or hoaxes and pranks. Science fiction
is a megabucks business. For example, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence
(SETI) has become an international obsession. Their scientific search of the skies
costs millions of dollars. At the same time, millions of impressionable young people
are flocking to theatres and dream of life on other planets.

There are more reported sightings of UFOs now than ever before. The ‘epidemic’
sometimes reaches the front page, with tragedies like the Heaven’s Gate suicide-murders
(all fully explained in Gary’s book). Yet the press—and many Christians—typically
dismiss the subject out of hand.

‘The idea that “aliens are with us”? has become increasingly mainstream’,
Gary tells audiences. ‘Just ask a few teenagers. Several of them are likely
to tell you that they believe aliens “are a fact”? and they may have
been humankind’s original creators. This should rightly shock us. Surveys
estimate that more than 80% of Western peoples now believe that ET is out there
somewhere. Finding ET is actually one of the stated goals of NASA’s taxpayer-funded
“Origins”? program. To them, it’s a search for the meaning and
origins of life.’

First contact

The story gets personal. ‘As a young non-Christian, my own love of science
fiction and “alien worlds"? shaped my view of my place in the universe
because I desired them to be true’, Gary recalls. Gary still loves
science fiction—that fact is obvious in his book, which shares his deep insights
into many of the genre’s greatest films and books. But since Gary’s
life-changing realization that God’s Word is true from the first verse, he
has gotten new insight into the work of scientists, authors and ‘UFO abductees’
who believe in alien life.

Their evolutionary worldviews are not incidental. I was amazed, for example, to
learn about the virulent atheism and evolutionary beliefs of H.G. Wells, Isaac Asimov
and Arthur C. Clarke, which influenced their science fiction writings.

The evolution connection

‘Once you look into it, evolution is the central tenet, whether you
look at science fiction, SETI or the Rover missions to Mars’, Gary
observes. ‘Belief in an ancient cosmos billions of years old has preconditioned
people to expect alien visitations. It is thought that if life evolved on Earth,
surely other civilizations would have evolved on distant planets far earlier than
ours and, thus, would be more technologically advanced.’

The face on Mars

UFO author Richard Hoagland created a media frenzy when he popularized the idea
of a lost Martian civilization, based largely on the photo at right. This image
of the Martian surface by the 1976 Voyager probe seemed to show what looks
like a face. Efforts by NASA to assure critics that this was merely a fortuitous
play of light on a mesa (hill) were met with disdain by ‘true believers’.
More recent probes with far superior photographic equipment focused on the area
(images above) confirmed that this geologic feature had no artificial origin.

Gary says star travel is impossible, according to known laws of physics. But he
observes some interesting parallels between popular media portrayals of aliens and
subsequent UFO sightings and reports of alien visitations. For example:

‘Prior to Close Encounters of the Third Kind [1977] reports of alleged
aliens with long thin necks were non-existent. After the film, they became common.
Before the film, the eyes were human-like with a pupil and iris with white surrounds.
Afterwards, they were black, slanted and much larger—an image that endures
today.’ (Excerpt from Alien Intrusion, chapter 1, ‘The Invasion
is Underway’.)

Gary’s book gives intriguing additional evidence of how UFOs, which were reported
even in ancient times, seem to have manifested to reflect either current technology
or that which was very shortly to come.

Increasingly, [our ministry] receives questions about UFOs and extraterrestrial
life, and to assist [us], Gary wanted to learn more. He decided to study the leading
research, to interview leaders and to attend conferences to learn first-hand what
the movers and shakers were saying.

‘I have written this book out of a genuine desire to understand the truth
about this phenomenon’, Gary writes in the introduction to his book, ‘I
have a great respect and compassion for the people who have been caught up in alien
phenomena, sometimes with very distressing consequences.’

The things that he discovered surprised even Gary. He shows how belief in evolution
has opened the door to ‘alien’ visitations. Surprising, I know. But
the evidence is hard to escape. Reports of sightings and abductions sometimes defy
natural explanation, and they have surprising similarities, despite separation by
oceans, and ignorance of other witnesses’ reports. Those who report sightings
and abductions are changed people. ‘Real or otherwise, “abductees”?
and their perception of the world are forever altered. Many develop a strange interest
in the occult and supernatural.’

The first ‘classic’ abduction case involved American couple Barney and
Betty Hill. They could not account for a missing period of two hours when driving
home in their car one evening in 1961 after sighting a UFO. Later, under hypnosis,
the Hills individually recounted the same terrifying experiences with strange beings
who performed grotesque ‘medical-like’ examinations on them. Barney
died in 1969 and his wife in October, 2004.

Gary already knew that the modern UFO movement had a quasi-religious side and even
served as a substitute religion that consciously displaced Christianity and biblical
authority. But only after he was deep in research did he uncover reports from well-established
researchers that linked stories of abductions and ancient demonology.

‘There is an enormous spiritual battle going on,’ he tells audiences,
‘and it is more widespread than most people realize. The whole phenomenon,
and our complacency about it, has become deeply worrying to me. After all, how would
you witness to someone who told you that a little grey alien visited them in the
middle of the night? If you tell them they are being deceived, then watch out! …
It is very difficult to reach these people.’

Even self-proclaimed Christians have been swept into a UFO worldview. ‘On
one occasion,’ Gary says, ‘I was giving a talk, and at the end a young
married woman spent over twenty minutes quoting sections of the Bible better than
most Christians I know, but each time it had a UFO interpretation. As she explained
it, aliens were our creators and had been visiting us for millennia, overseeing
our evolution and the Christian religion. She spoke openly about visitations and
stated that she had met Jesus. (This is very common among abductees.) Every time
I identified an inconsistency in her interpretation, she brushed it off. Her state
was the closest thing that I could imagine to being brainwashed.’

UFOs and big business

The book The Chariots of the Gods, which claimed that ancient artifacts
were evidence of alien visitations to a primitive earth, was an international best-seller.
Author Erich von Däniken (above) made the transition from the science fiction
market into the mainstream, selling over 65 million books. This made him one of
the biggest-selling authors of all time. He claimed that Bible events such as the
parting of the Red Sea and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah were ‘UFO-mediated’
miracles by way of advanced technology. After some solid rebuttals were published
(including creationist Clifford Wilson’s Crash Go the Chariots),
demonstrating his claims to be without substance, von Däniken went into retreat.
He is not highly regarded by the serious UFO community and is often dismissed as
a populist UFO hoaxer.

Nonetheless, due to the resurgent interest in ‘all things alien’, he
has resurfaced and used his wealth to build a massive ET museum complex in Interlaken,
Switzerland as shown in the pictures from his website (below). This is estimated
to have cost US$76 million—yet another gauge of the worldwide interest in
the UFO phenomenon.

The most disturbing chapter in Gary’s book details stories of ‘alien
abductions—close encounters of the fourth kind’. Popular reports fail
to relay the ugly truth experienced by the majority of these victims, yet the nature
of such events reveals the true deception behind them. (I certainly had never heard
these shocking details before.)

The right enticements

Though it covers some heavy truths, I found Alien Intrusion a really interesting
book to read. Like a good mystery, it digs deeply into many famous (and not-so-famous)
sightings and stories of abductions around the world, as well as government efforts
to investigate UFOs (or cover them up). I always wanted to know the real story behind
Project Blue Book, Area 51 and the ‘Men in Black’, crop circles and
the ‘holy grail’ of UFOlogy—the Roswell Incident and the associated
Alien Autopsy ‘documentary’—all addressed in this book.

Due to Gary’s work, I now feel that I have a comprehensive understanding of
one of the most influential and confusing—yet intriguing—movements of
our day. The study of UFOs offers a wealth of broader lessons about human nature,
life and the supernatural.

Yet I found it even more thrilling to examine how, in yet another arena, the Bible
proves its ability to solve the great mysteries of our day and be ‘a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart’ (Hebrews
4:12). Gary shows how the Sword of Scripture cuts to the heart of the matter
and gives the only satisfying answer to real-world problems. Our personal problems—even
if they seem other-worldly—boil down to the same practical problem of our
submission to God and His Word.

Gary’s book is unlike anything [CMI] has ever produced. I believe it is very
timely. For the curious Christian reader, it is loaded with valuable insights. Have
you ever wondered, ‘Does the Bible mention ETs? Did God create aliens? Did
Ezekiel see a UFO?’ This book thoroughly answers these and other questions.
For instance, his coverage of the controversial ‘sons of God’ passage
in Genesis 6 is one of the most comprehensive I have ever seen. This passage has
been widely used by Erich von Däniken (of The Chariots of the Gods
fame) and others to promote ‘ancient astronaut’ theories.

It is important for Christians to have these answers. Yet the author also has non-Christians
in his sights, intriguing them on a ‘non-threatening’ popular topic.
By the time they get to the end of the book, the powerful arguments lead them patiently
but inexorably to one conclusion: God is the real master of the universe.

I think Gary has a winner here. Head-on, he helps to uncover one of the greatest
deceptions in mankind’s history, in Satan’s battle for souls. We should
keep him—and the message of this milestone book—in prayer.

UFO snippets

There are about 150 reported sightings worldwide every day.

90–95% of all UFO sightings have been readily explained as natural or man-made
phenomena, such as the planet Venus or mistaken satellites.

UFOs have been seen on commercial and military radar screens—even by a US
President (Jimmy Carter in 1969).

They are said to change shape and merge into one another.

They appear to defy the laws of physics by travelling thousands of miles per hour,
and change directions without slowing down.

Some polls suggest that up to 20 million Americans have seen a UFO and four million
claim to actually have been abducted by aliens.

Science fiction is the most popular entertainment genre of today, accounting for
about 70% plus of all movie box office receipts at any one time.

UFO ‘experiences’ are often generational; that is, spanning several
generations of family members.

The UFO cults are some of the fastest-growing religious movements in the world (the
Raelians, for example).

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